AEA Statement on White House Budget Proposal

President Barack Obama released his FY 2014 budget on Wednesday, a $3.77 trillion plan with a $744 billion deficit. AEA President Tom Pyle released the following statement in response to the energy provisions included in the White House budget:

“Now months overdue, President Obama’s budget represents the administration’s desire to double down on bad energy policy. The same week that the U.S. Comptroller General identified scores of fragmented, duplicative and wasteful renewable energy programs, the Obama budget calls for even more spending on these and other initiatives, including permanent taxpayer-funded subsidies for century-old industries like wind and solar. He continues his effort to incorporate punitive and discriminatory tax measures for oil and gas producers into the tax code, while renewing his effort to poach mineral royalties owed to U.S. taxpayers to fund his green energy schemes without opening new lands for exploration and development.

“Conspicuously absent from the White House budget is any mention of the Keystone XL pipeline. Now on a four-year delay despite numerous environmental impact studies and a new route that avoids sensitive areas, the failure to permit this critical infrastructure project is a daily reminder of the administration’s rejection of commonsense solutions to meet America’s energy needs. Meanwhile, the President calls for fast-track permitting for renewables, ostensibly to hasten deployment of electricity generating facilities that don’t produce energy when Americans need it most. It’s a late budget full of lousy ideas, recycled to appear fresh and sensible in hopes that the American people will forget the failures of the past four years, higher gasoline prices, skyrocketing electricity rates, bankrupt renewable firms, and billions in wasted taxpayer money on politically connected industries.”